Valve Could Be Phasing Out Single Player Focused Games

Valve has quite a reputation in the gaming community. They are responsible for hugely popular and critically acclaimed franchises like Half-life, Portal and Left4Dead. Biggest among them is probably Half-life, as the original is what really rocketed this company into the spotlight. Now, with its digital distribution and social PC gaming service named Steam, Valve is most defintiely a staple in the industry.

With the recent release of another fantastic game to add to their resume, Valve took a small add-on game (Portal 1) that was just a little experience in the Orange Box and gave it the fully-fledged sequel it deserved in Portal 2. This entry added a full cooperative campaign mode to the former single player only experience and their most recent games like Left4Dead 1 & 2 have clearly favored the multiplayer experience.

So, gamers are left to wonder: what about my single player focused experiences like Half-Life? Heck, where is my Half-Life 3??? Well, sorry to break it to you, but it seems like those types of games could be finished. The following is taken from a recent Kotaku article:

That assertion first appeared in the Final Hours of Portal 2, journalist Geoff Keighley’s recent behind-the-scenes chronicle about Valve’s newest game. It’s an assertion he told me he heard directly from Valve founder Gabe Newell and the company’s project manager Erik Johnson.

“Portal 2 will probably be Valve’s last game with an isolated single-player experience,” Keighley wrote in Final Hours, “What this all means is something Newell is still trying to figure out.”

No official announcement from Valve yet, but that seems pretty telling if you ask me. Does this mean the next Half-Life will have cooperative elements, will be a combination of the two a la the upcoming game Brink, or maybe it will be something totally unique? Leave your comments below and let us know what you think!

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David Jagneaux Senior Editor Experienced and educated are often not words used to describe David, but he throws them around anyways. He has been playing games since before he could walk and loves to share his thoughts and opinions on the industry as a whole.